Mobile telephone including means for implementing a game application during playback of a soundtrack

ABSTRACT

A mobile telephone, including:
         selector ( 36 ) for selecting sound track content and at least one attribute specific to the sound track from a file,   a sound playback device ( 35, 22 ) for the sound track contained in the selected file,   a man/machine interface ( 40, 42 ) making it possible to implement a question/answer game application ( 37 ) on the telephone.       

     The game application ( 37 ) includes a parameter whereof the value defines the subject-matter of the questions; and
         it includes an implementor for implementing the game application ( 37 ) during the playback of each sound track with, for value of the parameter, an attribute of the sound track being played back.

This claims the benefit of French Patent Application FR 10 56258, filedJul. 29, 2010 and hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a mobile telephone of the typeincluding:

a means for selecting sound track content and at least one attributespecific to the sound track from a file,

a sound playback means for the sound track contained in the selectedfile,

a man/machine interface making it possible to implement aquestion/answer game application on said telephone.

Mobile telephones commonly include a removable memory or medium in whichsound files and a means for sound playback of said files are stored,thereby making it possible to use the telephone as a personal stereo tolisten to musical content selected by the user.

These sound files contain certain attributes such as the artist's name,the author's name, the title of the segment, etc., and the telephone isable to display one or more of these attributes on a screen duringplayback of the considered file.

The information appearing on the screen is then informative for theuser, but it is static and limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone makingit possible to increase the user's interest during the playback of amusical track.

The present invention provides a mobile telephone characterized in that

the game application includes a parameter whereof the value defines thesubject-matter of the questions; and

it includes a means for implementing the game application during theplayback of each sound track with, for value of the parameter, anattribute of the sound track being restored.

In one particular embodiment, the telephone includes one or more of thefollowing features:

the mobile telephone includes:

a means for querying a remote server associated with a questiondatabase, by sending the attribute of the file being broadcast, and

a means for receiving at least one question corresponding to the valueof the attribute sent;

the game application comprises a means for providing the user with aquestion related to the attribute of the sound track, during theplayback of the sound track, a means for collecting a response to saidquestion by the user and a means for assessing the relevance of theresponse provided by the user;

the game application is able, during playback of the sound track, tocollect from the user at least one question and at least one relatedanswer and to store the question and related answer in connection withthe attribute of the sound track, for later use in the game during theplayback of a sound track associated with said attribute;

the attribute is a value comprised in the group consisting of the nameof the author of the sound track, the name of the artist of the soundtrack, the title of the sound track and the type of the sound track; and

the telephone includes a means for permanently saving sound files in thetelephone and the sound playback means of the sound track is able toensure the playback of the selected sound files contained in thetelephone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention also relates to an installation including:

a telephone as described above, and

a remote server able to communicate with the mobile telephone andincluding a database associating sound file attributes withquestions/answers.

The invention will be better understood upon reading the followingdescription, provided solely as an example and done in reference to theappended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a network implementing a telephoneaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the telephone;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the method implemented by thetelephone according to the invention during a game phase; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the method implemented by thetelephone according to the invention during a game creation phase.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile telephone 10 connected to a server 12 of awireless network 14, e.g. the 3G network.

As is known in itself, the telephone includes a means 16, such as atransmitter/receiver, for transmitting and receiving data through thenetwork, a display screen 18 for displaying information and a keypad 20,which can be incorporated into a touchscreen. It also includes earphonesconnected to an amplifier 22 or any other equipment able to producesounds.

As detailed in FIG. 2, the telephone, includes a processor 30, ensuringthe management of the telephone and the different functional modulesdescribed above. This processor is associated with different datastores, a first of which denoted 32 contains sound files locally presentin the telephone.

Each sound file includes, aside from a part specific to the sounditself, attributes specific to the file and in particular the name ofthe author of the sound track, the name of the artist of the soundtrack, the title of the sound track and the type of sound track.

A second store 34 contains the telephone's applications, i.e. programsthat allow the telephone to operate. These include an application 35 forreading sound files enabling a sound restriction of the files from theearphones 22. This application in particular includes a means 36, suchas a selector, for selecting a file whereof playback is desired.

This store also contains a game application 37 making it possible, uponreproduction of a sound file, in an “answer questions” mode, to providequestions related to at least one attribute of the sound file or in the“create a question” mode, to input the questions and answers proposed bythe user related to at least one attribute of the sound file.

To that end, the application includes a parameter corresponding to thesubject-matter of the questions. When the application is launched, thisparameter is filled in with an attribute of the file being read.

The application includes a means 40, such as a display, for displaying aquestion on the screen, a means 42, such as an input, for inputting ananswer to the question from the keypad 20 and in particular a means,such as a selector, making it possible to select one answer from amongseveral different proposed answers, as well as a means 44, such as aquerier and exchanger, for querying and exchanging information with theserver 12 through a transmitting and receiving means 16.

The remote server 12 is connected to a database 50 including aconnection between stored attributes and questions, which in turn areconnected with at least one correct answer and possibly with one or moreincorrect answers.

Thus for example, for artist name X as attribute, it contains a question“At what age did X get married?”, a correct answer “26 years” and 3incorrect answers, for example “24 years,” “28 years” and “30 years.”

The server 12 includes a means, such as a communications device, forcommunicating with the game application operating on the telephone andable to provide results to the application 37 or to receivequestions/answers from the application 37.

The flow chart of FIG. 3 illustrates the method implemented according tothe invention by the computer 30 under the program's command.

When the game application is launched in “answer questions” mode, instep 98, one or more sound files whereof reading is desired are selectedfrom the selection means 36. The playback of the sound files isinitiated in step 100 by the reading application 35.

In step 102, one attribute of each sound file, for example the artists'names, is read.

These attributes are communicated to the server 12 through the network,in step 104, after which the server defines, from the data contained inthe database 50, and for each attribute, a questions file containingseveral questions, for example 4, each associated with the attribute,and for each question a correct answer and 3 incorrect answers in step106. These files are sent to the telephone in step 108 through thenetwork and are temporarily stored in the telephone.

A test is performed to determine the file being read in step 122 and afirst question appearing in the received file associated with theattribute of the file being read is displayed on the screen as well asthe three incorrect answers and the associated correct answer, in step124.

The user is invited to choose one of the answers in step 126. Hisresponse is assessed in step 128 and if the answer is correct, a pointscounter J is incremented in step 130. The values of the counter J arestored, according to a first embodiment, in the telephone. According toone alternative, these values are sent to the remote server 12 andstored for each participant in the game. The server includes a means forranking the participants based on their respective counters.

Steps 112 and following are then carried out again, and the user isasked new questions associated with the attribute of the file beingread, as long as the playback of the sound file continues and the numberof questions contained in the question file is not reached.

During selection of a new sound file, the same steps are carried out.

It can be seen that such an arrangement makes it possible to animate thetelephone during the broadcast of a sound file by proposing questionsrelated to an attribute of the sound file.

According to another embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 4, the user isinvited not to answer questions, but to propose questions and answersrelated to one of the attributes of the sound file being read to enrichthe database 50.

To that end, the game application can carry out the flow chart of FIG. 4after selecting the “create a question” mode.

The files whereof reading is desired are first selected in step 198 andthe reading of the sound files is initiated in step 200.

The game application 37 first detects the file being read in step 201,then in step 202 detects the attributes of the file being read. It thendisplays them on the screen in step 204.

The user is invited, through an adapted graphic interface, to select oneof these attributes in step 206, then to write a question related tosaid attribute in step 208. The application then invites the user, instep 210, to enter 4 answers, only one of which is correct, for thequestion previously entered and to identify the correct answer.

The attribute, question and correct answer and the three incorrectanswers are incorporated into a question file in step 211 and that fileis sent, in step 212, by the telephone 10 to the server 12, which storesthe received data in the database 50 in step 214.

The latter data is then available to be sent to another telephone usingthe game application upon detection of the considered attribute in aread sound file.

Alternatively, the stored data is validated by a moderator from theserver 12 before being made available in the database 50.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A mobile telephone, comprising: a selector for selecting sound track content and at least one attribute specific to the sound track from a file; a sound playback device for the sound track contained in the selected file; a man/machine interface capable of implementing a question/answer game application on the telephone, the game application including a parameter, a value of the parameter defining a subject-matter of the questions; and an implementor for implementing the game application during the playback of each sound track, the implementor using, for the value of the parameter, an attribute of the at least one attributes of the sound track being played back.
 9. The mobile telephone as recited in claim 8 wherein the implementor includes: a querier for querying a remote server associated with a question database, by sending the attribute of the file being played back; and a receiver for receiving at least one question corresponding to the value of the attribute sent.
 10. The mobile telephone as recited in claim 8 wherein the game application includes question provider for providing the user with a question related to the attribute of the sound track, during the playback of the sound track, an input for receiving a response to the question by the user and an assessor for assessing the relevance of the response provided by the user.
 11. The mobile telephone as recited in claim 8 wherein the game application is capable, during playback of the sound track, to receive from the user at least one question and at least one related answer and to store the question and related answer in connection with the attribute of the sound track, for later use in the game during the playback of a sound track associated with the attribute.
 12. The mobile telephone as recited in claim 8 wherein the attribute is defined by an attribute value indicating one of the group consisting of the name of the author of the sound track, the name of the artist of the sound track, the title of the sound track and the type of the sound track.
 13. The mobile telephone as recited in claim 8 further comprising a storage for permanently saving sound files in the telephone, the sound playback device of the sound track being able to ensure the playback of the selected sound files contained in the telephone.
 14. An installation including: a mobile telephone as recited in claim 8; and a remote server able to communicate with the mobile telephone and including a database associating sound file attributes with questions/answers. 